Mercury protecting Ulysses from the charms of Circe 1590

Annibale Carracci created this drawing, Mercury protecting Ulysses from the charms of Circe, sometime before his death in 1609. Carracci was working in a moment of intense cultural rediscovery, as artists and patrons alike were enthralled with the classical world of the Greeks and Romans. Here we have the hero Ulysses, who is being protected by the god Mercury from the enchantress Circe. Circe, as the archetypal seductress, has already transformed some of Ulysses's men into beasts, one of whom we see sprawled out on the floor. Mercury, sent by the gods, intervenes by offering Ulysses an herb that will protect him from her magic. The story reveals a culture that emphasizes a woman’s dangerous seductive powers, and a man's need for protection from them. Mercury, interceding here on behalf of men, suggests a divine endorsement of male power over female wiles. The artist asks us to consider the tensions between free will, desire, and power, with the fate of men hanging in the balance.